Reviews

Dragons!

Here be Dragons!

Shapeshifter Dragons is several parallel series of adventures taking place in a single world. The series are linked chronologically, plot-wise and in every possible sneaky way I can imagine. So far I have published 9 books, all are Amazon Bestsellers in Fantasy.

Plans

I have a number of books in the pipeline for these series, including a couple of standalone works. The immediate future is:

After that there will be Riika's story from Dragon Thief, Dragons of Sea and Sky, and a standalone novel dealing with the Crysolitic Dragons found North of Immadia. I'm also thinking along the lines of a couple of Dragon point-of-view stories for this world. Too many ideas and too little time!

Chronological Reading Order and Notes

Don't worry about where you started! The answers are here, I hope! You can start reading anywhere - just watch out, for here be Dragons ...The Dragonfriend series is essentially standalone. Many readers start with Dragonfriend or Aranya. I recommend, after that, working through the series(es) in chronological order from earliest to latest, as laid out below.

Deep in history, we start with the tale of the first Dragon Rider, Hualiama Dragonfriend. Born in an era when Humans have barely shaken off draconic rule, Hualiama is a woman whose fierce love and bravery will set her against every taboo and law of Humankind and Dragonkind. For when a woman loves a Dragon, that love will change the world.

Over 400 years after the events of Dragonfriend, the Pygmy Dragon rocks the world with her extraordinary heritage and powers as she battles the all-conquering Marshal of Herimor and his legions of Dragon Assassins, confronting a peril which threatenes to extinguish all Dragon life in the Island-World. This two-book series concludes with The Onyx Dragon.

Special note: This series is closely linked to Aranya, below. For plot reasons, please read The Onyx Dragon BEFORE you read Aranya volume #3 (Song of the Storm Dragon).

[THIRD - SHAPESHIFTER DRAGONS - Aranya, Shadow Dragon, Song of the Storm Dragon, Part #4 Unnamed] 152 years after The Pygmy Dragon, the Princess of Immadia’s world-shaping exploits are recounted in the Shapeshifter Dragons series (Aranya, Shadow Dragon, and Song of the Storm Dragon). Aranya’s courage and irrepressible fire pit her against Thoralian, Emperor of Sylakia and conqueror of the Island-World north of the Rift.

Special note: Please read The Pgymy Dragon/The Onyx Dragon before you read Song of the Storm Dragon!

[FOURTH - Dragon Thief] 311 years after Aranya, a feckless thief has the surprise of his life as he manages to steal rather more than he bargained for - or did the treasure steal him?

Special note: The ending of Dragon Thief brings the reader to the point where the worlds of Dragons, for millennia circumscribed by the uncrossable Rim-Wall Mountains and the oceanic world of IsleSong (The IsleSong series begins with The Girl who Sang with Whales) intersect. I recommend reading Aranya and Shadow Dragon before diving into Dragon Thief.

In IsleSong, Zhialeiana is a young Island girl gifted the ability to sing the songs of sea-creatures. Powerful Bard-Navigators sing to the great Whales, magically binding them to protect their ships during their dangerous crossings between the Atolls and Islands of the World-Sea. But the great Whales harbour unimagined secrets, and what of the Sea-Dragons which maraud unchecked? What is their origin?

Map to Aranya

I have been delighted with the success of Aranya since the launch of this book in June 2014. Aranya is an Amazon fantasy bestseller in Sword & Sorcery, and the companion series The Pygmy Dragon has also hit the bestseller lists. Thank you to all of the wonderful customers who have downloaded and read these books!

I have planned this for a while and here it is: the Aranya map! This wonderful map was produced by an artist friend of mine, Joshua Smolders. Please update your Kindle device to receive the book file with the map included! Larger size here.

Appendices

Distances and Navigation

For converting between leagues, miles and kilometres:

1 league = 5.556 kilometres = 3.45 miles

1 mile = 5280 feet

Given the five moons in the skies, dominated by Iridith (the huge yellow moon), navigation by the stars is unreliable. Therefore the Islanders north of the Rift have developed the method of navigating by the suns and moons, which have reliable if complex orbits and periods in the sky. Distance is generally expressed in terms of days of travel between Islands. Leagues in the air are measured by a process of general agreement (called a Dragonship Captain’s measure) rather than an accurate scientific measurement, due to the difficulty of calculating distances across the ever-shifting Cloudlands. This changed with the rediscovery of the league-logger at Immadia Island.

Flying and falling speeds

Human terminal velocity is around 124 mph or 200 km/h. When Aranya was thrown off the Last Walk she would have reached even greater speeds, given as she was chained to a block of stone and so was falling in the vertical position with minimal body resistance to the air. Experienced skydivers can reach velocities of over 180 mph or 290 km/h in the ‘bullet’ position.

A Dragon’s long distance flying speed is 6–8 leagues per hour (21–28 mph / 33–44 km/h) but over short distances they are capable of sprints of over 40 leagues per hour (138 mph / 222 km/h), especially if this is combined with a swoop from a height. They are highly streamlined, especially with their wings in the furled position. When travelling longer distances Dragons are similar to migrating birds in that they are able to convert body mass into energy to fuel their flight. Larger Dragons are able to spend up to two days or more in the air if they rest at appropriate intervals, covering hundreds of leagues in this time.

A Dragonship usually travels at 4 leagues per hour (14 mph / 22.2 km/h) as the large dirigible balloon, despite its oblong shape, generates significant wind resistance. The meriatite-powered engines provide sufficient thrust for higher speeds, but generally Dragonships excel at distance rather than speed. Before the development of the meriatite furnace engine Dragonships were powered by wind and Human effort, employing a system of heating an air balloon similar to hot-air ballooning.

How high can a person or a Dragon fly?

The higher Islands of the Island-World lie approximately one league (3.45 miles / 18200 feet) above the Cloudlands, which is a gaseous cloud layer much denser than the Earth’s atmosphere. Air pressure around 1 mile above the Cloudlands is equivalent to Earth’s sea level, but oxygen levels are higher (23% of atmospheric gases). Humans have adapted to living at altitude. Comparatively, they have higher red blood corpuscle counts and better lung capacity and cardiac output levels than average Humans living on Earth. Aranya of Immadia grew up at the equivalent of 13000 feet above sea level in Earth terms.

Dragon Riders have to be especially wary of hypoxia and hypothermia at altitudes over 1.75 leagues (6.04 miles / 32000 feet) above the Cloudlands. Many Dragon Riders in the past undertook high-altitude training, and the dangers of hypoxia were well documented. Accepted wisdom is not to fly over heights of 1.5 leagues above Cloudlands level due to impairment of the senses, especially night vision, reasoning and judgement, and general nausea and vertigo which develop.

Dragon lungs and their triple-heart cardiovascular systems are highly adapted to flying at altitude. The ability of golden Dragon blood to become saturated with oxygen is orders of magnitude better than that of Humans, allowing the lungs to absorb sufficient oxygen even at low atmospheric pressures up to 4 leagues (13.8 miles / 72865 feet) above Cloudlands level. Dragon musculature is remarkably efficient in terms of resource consumption measured against physical output, allowing Dragons to fly at great heights and for very long distances, while replenishment of resources is also rapid. Energy and oxygen are stored in the body in special, additional organs and tissues. However Dragons do suffer from hypoxia symptoms similar to those experienced by Humans–euphoria, dimming of vision and impaired judgement. They need to be careful of decompression when swooping from a great height, similar to Humans experiencing the ‘bends’ or the formation of gas bubbles in joints and capillaries.

A Dragon can hold its breath for around 15 minutes, depending on the level of physical activity. A record of one hour underwater was achieved by a small Red Dragon. Further, Dragons with the ability to shield (semi-permeably) are able to learn how to provide additional oxygen to their Riders, protecting them from the effects of hypoxia, and even, legend has it, to heat a ‘bubble’ of air around a Rider to protect them from the deadly low temperatures of high altitude flying.

Why is a Dragonship so big?

Dragonships are large because of the huge volume of hydrogen gas required to produce lift. Airship engineers calculated on 68 pounds (30.9kg) of lift per 1,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas. Garthion’s flagship, at 400 feet in length, is less than half the size of the ill-fated Hindenberg. This size yields an approximate gas volume of 4.5 million cubic feet with a lifting power of 139 tons–assuming the airship is a regular cylinder with a large radius of 60 feet. Dragonships are torpedo-shaped for streamlining, but still generate considerable drag in the air.

Hydrogen for Dragonships is produced by melting mineral meriatite before dumping it in an acid bath. The resulting reaction produces hydrogen. However, hydrogen is highly flammable and dangerous, as Zuziana and Aranya teach the Sylakians. Hydrogen is relatively easy to produce, but helium would be inert at the expense of some lifting power–making helium the safer choice.

Dragon types

There are four major Dragon families–the Ancient Dragons, the Lesser Dragons, Shapeshifters and dragonets. Many varieties exist within each major family; varieties of colour, shape, size and magical ability. Certain colours and abilities are more common than others. All Dragons speak Dragonish to a greater or lesser degree.

Lesser Dragons–descendants of the Ancients, they are commonly Reds, Greens, Oranges and Yellows. Their primary attack is Dragon fire but this is usually combined with one or more special attacks or abilities. Greens are renowned for their healing abilities and poison or acid attacks. Their favourite habitat is woodlands, forests and especially jungles. They are often long and lean in body shape, and reclusive by nature. Reds, Oranges and Yellows excel in various categories of fire breathing, fire shaping, fireballs and special attacks such as molten lava. Reds are usually the most massive of the Lesser Dragons, achieving wingspans of over 120 feet. They are gregarious and love to live in large colonies. The Blue and Grey-Blue spectrums tend to dominate in the lightning and water-based abilities, and higher-level magical abilities such as shielding. They are fond of roosting in high places or near water. Zuziana, as an Azure Dragon, is a rare colour and is among the smallest of Dragons in physical size. Grey-Black to Black Dragons, such as Fra’anior (an Ancient Dragon), usually have lightning and earth powers such as earthquake, or the much rarer powers of storm and shivers. They often prefer living in caves.

Dragonets–first found on the Islands of Fra’anior, the dragonets are generally thought to have lesser intelligence, but the largest dragonets (up to four feet in length) do communicate well in Dragonish. They love to live in large colonies and are highly sociable. They become easily attached. Sapphire, a blue dragonet, becomes attached to Aranya and travels with her. Dragonets have as wide a variety of colours as Dragons. It is agreed that dragonets only breathe fire and have almost none of the other abilities of the Lesser or Ancient Dragons. (Special note: Flicker might disagree. See the Epilogue of Dragonstar for more on this subject)

Ancient Dragons–those who first colonised the Island-World and are said to have created the Islands and Humans. Little is known about the Ancient Dragons. One in particular, Fra’anior, a huge, multi-headed Black Dragon with Storm powers, plays a part in our story. There are also Magma Dragons which live in volcanoes and Land Dragons who roam the Cloudlands, although it is unsure as to whether they are flying, walking or swimming. The Land Dragons are said to chew on the roots of the Islands.

Shapeshifters–most scholars agree that Shapeshifters are a race of their own, being neither Dragon nor Human. Shapeshifters may have been the result of scientific experimentation by the Ancient Red Dragon, Dramagon, but this is uncertain. Shapeshifters are able to transform between their Human and Dragon forms. Most Shapeshifters are bound to a single Dragon colour.

Dragons which defy classification–magic being what it is, there are those Dragons and Shapeshifters who defy classification, as is the case with Aranya and her mother Izariela, and Fra’anior’s soul-mate Istariela. Izariela and Istariela are Star or Silver Dragons, Dragons tending from silver to the purest white. No-one knows if they are Ancient or Lesser Dragons, nor exactly what their powers might be. Aranya, an Amethyst Dragon, is also of indeterminate classification, although she evidences a number of abilities across the spectrum such as Dragon fire, healing power, lightning and storm.

Will you add isle song too your timeline I keep wondering if it is before or after dragon thief also we never learned silver's real name. This matters as I make up a lot and I mean a lot of lore and theory's one of my current ones is pip and ardan being hualiamas draconic sibling to to their colorations and abilities as well as pips capabilities and capacity for mischief and crazy plans working. Is this accurate at least pip I am almost sure of I am having some doubts about ardan. And can we have a map of herimor. And what are the exact time gaps between series. thx for reading this dragonfreind followed by shapeshifter legends are my favorite series. When is the third in the shapeshifter dragons coming?

PS. I think a third or guide book to shapeshifter dragon legends would answer a lot of these

Alright, let me see if I can get this in order. A guide book would be a good idea at some point as it is challenging to keep all of these characters, events and lore in order. Thanks for writing to encourage me, I'm glad you enjoyed these books so much.

1. IsleSong - you've hit the question right on the button. I haven't quite decided where the integration will be in the timeline as yet, but there definitely will be a link - most probably around the time of Dragon Thief/just after. I was toying with writing Riika's story separately as well, just for fun!

2. Time gaps are in the blog post above but ah, I see you've spotted that I didn't put an exact time between Pip and Hualiama. I'll need to think about that one. Around 450 years, I think.

3. Song of the Storm Dragon is coming in late Oct or Nov, depending on how quickly I complete the rest of the drafting.

4. I'll have a chat to my map artist regarding a Herimor map, that one's a bit more complex even than the ones we have so far. But it would be helpful as I develop Song of the Storm Dragon to have one, for sure.

5. I've been working with three different ideas for Shapeshifter heritage - familial lines of Dragons, spontaneous Shifters and the idea of a spiritual heritage. Have you had a chance to read The Onyx Dragon yet? Some of this comes out in that volume.

Will you tell us silvers real name and is pip hualiamas draconic sibling also can we have a timeline that includes isle song and exact time gaps and when is the third shapeshifter dragon book coming out and will you ever make a series guide.ps in your next book will you add a map of herimor

Does ardan qualify as a dragon that defies classification?Also I have read every book at least ten times, the dragonfriend saga at least twenty times each dragon love at least thirty times and my favorite song at least 100 times it is my official favorite song.

So glad to hear you enjoyed these stories so much. I'm hoping to have Song of the Storm Dragon ready very soon! Yes, so Ardan comes into the "special" category as he doesn't really have a colour. As you've noticed I've been working on primary colours but will be heading in a slightly different direction with the Dragon Thief tie-in.

No, that's not something I'd ever thought of :-). The suns are just Firstsun and Secondsun, or the twin suns. I had thought about creating a sun mythology but it just seemed too much at the time. Maybe with a Sun Dragoness ...

By the way I am 10 I first discovered the Pygmy dragon then shapeshifter dragons then dragon soul then isle song. My favorite is dragon love. I have read the onyx dragon in fact it was the second of your books I have read. I was guessing pip might literally be hualiama's sibling genetically. Also ho do you pronounce pips full name me the audiobook and kindle pronounce it differently. I also would really appreciate the guidebook if it included various names and when they changed for the fra'anoir/ha'athior island cluster and ilia traitors of the main dragons and humans not included on cover art. I tried to make this a bit shorter and easier to understand than my others.

Cool! I've heard quite a lot from younger folks like yourself that they've loved this one. Ok, here's a fun clue - I did not write her name to be very pronouncable. It uses features from Ethiopian languages that I'm familiar with, such as accents, glottal stops and rising and falling tones. Given as I made it so hard for them, the narrator did the best job possible under the circumstances :-)

I think as you say it would be lots of fun to do more artwork for this world. I've enjoyed bringing it to life sooooo much. The latest is Herimor with Song of the Storm Dragon. Hopefully that'll come to life as well!

Ooh, excellent question. The simple answer is 'no' if we're thinking about ordinary, physical lineage. But if you're thinking about magical/spiritual heritage in the way that I've couched it in this series, then she is clearly of the same line & gifts - running through Istariela, Izariela, Hualiama, Aranya, Pip, Tazithiel, Riika ... notice something significant about the number of these characters?

Can I get a illustration of hualiama or at least a wing diagram I am making a size aggurate 12 foot costume for Halloween off of the dragon soul cover picture only. So it would save us many many headaches.

Hello, thank you for firing my imagination through you writing! I listen to your books on Audio while I commute to and from work. I have over an hour drive twice a day and you really have made traffic incredibly more tolerable. However, I have now heard every book on Audio you have out out and I have found myself 1 book short in 3 different series of yours. I was wondering if you have a timeline when "Dragonstar" or "Onyx Dragon" might be available in Audio format? I am also looking forward to the final in the Aranya series.

As I have enjoyed your writing so much, I am contemplating listening to your "Islesong" series, so my next question is..... will these be out on Audio soon perhaps?

Thanks for spending so many hours with these! I'm glad the drive has been that much more tolerable as you quietly imagine blasting the traffic aside with a few blue-hot fireballs ... :)

So what's being worked on at present is audio for The Onyx Dragon, The Horse Dreamer and Shioni of Sheba #3, The Mad Giant - all should come out during the course of Feb.

You mentioned Dragonstar but I haven't written that one as yet. The three Dragonfriend books (Dragonfriend, Dragonlove, Dragonsoul) are all available in audio however through Amazon or Tantor. I should be writing Dragonstar and the 4th of the Aranya series later this year, once we have the small matter of a house move out of the way. I'm also looking to get audio for Song of the Storm Dragon out hopefully in Q2. No plans at present for Islesong, but thanks for asking - I'll put that one on my to-do list.

Hope that's Ok! Audio's a bit slower and quite expensive to produce so I've been holding off getting everything onto audio - to date, my experience is that the outlay doesn't justify the return, as Amazon discount audiobooks heavily.

Hmm. A loose end, methinks. You've caught me out here as I don't imagine Izariela for example having more than one child (Aranya) at once. Nor Lyriela. Maybe we'll have to modify the 'always triplets' rule to 'almost always triplets' :-)

Bibliophile, where do you live? I really want to over therorize whith someone who actually agrees with me about books also dragonfriend saga is my favorite too in fact my order of favorites go in chronological order including islesong.Ps. (Marc) plottis maximus. Really!( really in italic)

Hi Maddie, Thanks! I really appreciate you writing in today :-). I'm so delighted that you've enjoyed my work so much. It's a privilege to hear feedback like this. Hopefully I can continue to inspire and entertain you.

High five for quick readers!I've found I have to force myself to slow down and enjoy the book, think deeper, and highlight my favorite parts, instead of shoving it into my head. I also reread books a lot after I finish so I don't miss anything. Marc's books are so long, I plan to reread each book at least three more times before moving on to his other series, then I reread them all again to look for character development, easter eggs, allusions, etc...I buy a book for life when I buy it!

One, is it a good thing that I can read dragonlove in 2.25 hours? Two, you are the only dragon Arthur or connected plot line author I can read now because yours is the best and my mind notices everything wrong with another.

I'm a young reader with an interest in a writing career. I admire your character development and story depth! Zip's story of being a snooty princess to a dragon rider burning the heavens with Aranya was so perfectly written, and that's before she becomes a shapeshifter! The end of Song of the Storm Dragon had me in tears just thinking about it!I was wondering if I could have a peek inside your head. How did you come up with this beautiful story and all of its magical characters?-Maddie

Dear Maddie, thanks for writing (hmm, a pun :-) I'd love to encourage you in becoming a writer if that's what you're after.) Scalpel? Drill? You're in! I think if you'd like more detailed answers, you can email me through my contact page on this blog, or message me on FB thru https://www.facebook.com/authormarc. I'd be happy to answer whatever questions you may have.

I was noticing an unconsistency from this page to song of the strom dragon. The section on dragonets says they have no magical powers, yet Sapphire uses healing powers and other blue specialties. Is Saphire an exception, or does this page need an update?

Sounds like this page needs an update. Some things I just invent on the fly ... so there's a bit of inconsistency here and there. I do work hard on keeping everything in sync, however! It's becoming challenging with such a large number of interlinked dragon books.

If Arana's tears make humans and dragons into shapeshifters, then wouldn't Leandrial become a shapeshifter?If so, I bet she'd be a human behemoth! (thanks for teaching me that word! And countless many more)Maybe it would take a few years for the change because,1. She is so incredibly massive2. A few weeks in human years would probably be a decade in land dragon years!Anyway, that's all I was wondering. (For now) :)-Maddie

That would be fun ... but I'm not sure I went there with the idea of transformation. I'm working on that in Dragonstar, but so far we have fire or tears releasing Shapeshifter potential, and one incident in Song of the Storm Dragon - the idea I had was that the tears would either heal, or heal and transform where the potential already existed. Hualiama is the one who breathed that 'potential' around the Island-World - anyways, that's what I had in mind. So Leandrial wouldn't necessarily transform.

I have however been thinking of bringing the Ancient Dragons back to the Island-World ... what would you think about that?

A really good thought :-) it's a storyline I've been putting some thought into. Of course we have a visitation in Dragonsoul, and I suppose there's also one in the Rift in Song of the Storm Dragon, but I have been thinking along the lines of, once I have all these Star Dragons, what should they set out to accomplish (together)?

It's a gorgeous cover, but no ... Dragonsoul's the one with her, really, although the colour wasn't as I imagined her. Much deeper blue, more like a midnight blue, with slight white detail around the scales.

@Marc Secchia Could you tell me who are the dragons in the onyx dragon and dragonstar? I could tell that the dragon in the first two books of the dragonfriend series is Grandion, but i wasnt so sure about the next two. Also, is Chymasion a special type of dragon? There's a reference to a male, jade egg in dragonstar when hualiama sees the prophecy with her human/dragonsoul, and I can't find any other jade male dragons.

There isn't a page for Whisper Alive so I'm putting it here. Is there any connection between the dragons in this series and the dragons of the island world? How many moons are there in Xisharn/Yanzorda? (Hope I spelled that right.) And the inevitable question, when is the next book coming out?

Yeah, time to spruce up the website again methinks. It's getting complicated with so many different series. Moons? I'm not sure I ever decided. And, I've not made any plans for more writing beyond finishing the Dragonfriend series and also finishing the Aranya series at this point. What I intend to do is finish the series(es) I already have in the works. That means Shioni of Sheba #7 (and last), and follow-ups to The Horse Dreamer and Whisper, most likely, and Dragons of Sea and Sky, which will strongly link the IsleSong series with my Shapeshifter Dragons world.

Okay, your secret is out- you only have one fantasy universe. Ill explain how i know if you want but i know. PS. It was extremely clever to have the ancient dragons cause all of the others along with the humans to flee the world.

Erm? :-) Quite a number of the books are linked, but not all. El Shashi, Shioni of Sheba, Feynard all stand alone for example. But I did discover a few unexpected parallels sneaking in when I was writing The Horse Dreamer. Nice spot though!

I wanted to tell you just how I love and have enjoyed your books. Your writing style and ideas amazes me. I can only describe it as beautiful. You have this awesome ability to make it so easy to imagine what the characters look like and the places and things they see... You even make it easy to be right there with Pip or Zhisu and feel what they are feeling at that time. I have read just about all of your books. I have only read the first 2 of Shioni of Sheba but I plan on finishing this series soon. Daniel Arenson and you are my favorite 2 authors. I have always loved Dragons. I would love to see you come out with a Wiki that has a timeline, map of the entire World Sea/Island World (how they tie in together) and I would love to see the actual history of how Dragons, Humans, Whales, Mermaids, and any other creatures came to this world. Why did the Mother Rorqual put the Dragons behind a impassable mountain and is that the rift... A family tree would also be great! If you need bc a Beta Reader for any of your books please let me know. I would love to read and review your books. I always give you a review on my Amazon Kindle account.

Thanks for writing. I'm glad you've enjoyed my books so much - deeply appreciated! :-) I had avoided putting up too detailed a timeline as I didn't want to spoil some of the key connections for readers, especially between IsleSong and the dragon world. But I am thinking about doing a fairly major website update in the near future and this would definitely be part of it.

I'd really value your input as a Beta Reader. Would you mind going to the contact page and dropping me a note so I can be in touch? With Dragonstar I'm working really close to the wire so I don't know how soon I'll be able to get files out to readers, but those first reviews are really, really important so I'll be changing my work schedule to accommodate more time for beta readers. Also bouncing new ideas off my Beta Readers!

Ok I'm confused. I just read Dragon Theif for the first time and allthough Riika might have just become my new favorite character (Sorry Hualiama) I thought you said she was a star dragoness not a sun dragoness? Or is it that the sun is actually just really close star? And does that mean when Riika dies she will become a third sun? (I hope she doesn't die soon though)

Also will Dramagon make some sort of appearance in Dragons of Sea and Sky? Other Ancient Dragons either make a physical appearance ( including Amaryllion, Numistar, and Infurion) or simply talk across space and time (like Fra'anior and Istariela). Actually Istariela makes a physical appearance too now that I think about it. But Dramagon's only presence that I can think of is through ruzal and urzal.

NO!That would mean that the star dragonesses failed and are either hiding, comatose, or dead.Pip is already in an egg coma.We don't need any more character deaths or permanent comas.

One last word on Pip, she is my favorite character. She had better be in Aranya 4. You said she would return in Aranya 3, and we still don't know for certain her condition. Emblazon and Shimmerith are dead, all of her friends outside of the egg are long gone, she's going to be mad and devastated. PLEASE let Pip be ok!

Or that they succeeded in bringing all dragonkind to scattered safe harbor away from The taint of Ruzal and it's cousins, or any other threat. Including the not so goood ones, but excluding the truly evil.

would any of them actually abandon anybody? It doesn't fit their characters. Could any of them make themself leave someone behind when they might still have good in them, or in their future generations? Not if they could help it. Plus, not all of whisper is evil. Most of it is good, in fact. Take Arbor and most other places. Hope is everywhere.

I'm right as proved by this quote in the girl who sang with whales: Her mother took her in her arms, rocked her, and sang to her just as she had many times when she was a child.She sang of the great Rorquals of The Deep and of islands where the suns never set and the waves chuckled against never-ending shores. *She whispered melodies of the last daysong of time, when the stars would sing over the World-Sea and the great Whales would arise to join the starry host.She sang of the places she would go on the Eternal Current, of the unseen realms whose magic sometimes broke through into the World-Sea,and how her spirit and love would always be with her daughter.

Have there been other Star Dragons on other worlds making up the stars in the sky? And I think that Amelia is right and all your books are in one universe. In the Horse Dreamer it skims over the presence of other worlds. :D

HD is definitely three worlds actually, if you think about the references to two of the characters at least (trying not to spoil for other readers here). I haven't actually decided if there's a link as yet, but I will be developing the crystalline dragonkind in the next book.

Well we have the water world the certain kind came from in the island world books and wherever the dragons came from, and back to the feynard paralells bolts of these bear some similarity to the unicorn is feynard, and if you do go with the connection, where are the equinox mer?

I was thinking more that the dragons fled to Whisper following the return of dramagon, and yes I was taking that bit from horse dreamer on the other worlds, also give feynard a read if you have'nt, it has some interesting leads.

So there are a half dozen or so different kinda of fires but I don't think any of them are inherently evil. For example shadow power uses dark fires and Ardan isn't evil. But rural corrupts them. Is this right? And I think ruzal is older than Dramagon. Nurguz

Yes, so different types of fires and corrupt versions of some. You're right, I haven't conceptualised any as inherently evil because that would I think lead to simplistic, flat evil characters. Oh well, you're born into an evil colour/fire/whatever so you're just ... evil. I prefer more complexity.

Am I the only one noticing some interesting paralells in coloration of characters? Specifically te white blond hair and stormy green eyes with hualiama and zaranna as well as the hair and blue eyes in zhialeiana. Plus the gray-green of herimor seems similar to the afore mentioned smoky green of flicker and hualiama' original eyes.

Good question!! Arm - either or, I've generally gone with (or shoulder joint) which is doubled in the full Dragon because I have mostly proper dragons and not wyverns in my stories. Tail was a little more complicated but the equivalent would be the coccyx bone in the human body so essentially there'd be damage to the pelvic area and/or upper legs.

Love that post - that's one of the ones I referred to during my research into different types of rainbows. Amelia - I'm strongly suggesting, yes, that the origins of humans like on Earth and that they were not 'created' as such by Fra'anior, but brought to this world or rescued from the chaos created by the cometary impact. I haven't quite sorted out that timeline, but you'll see similar hints in some of the 'tech' like the plastic spirit bag Zhialeiana carries, and again the suggestion that early colonising activities were polluting the world and were cut short by a devastating attack by the Mother Whale.

I just started listening to Dragonstar on Audible (and realized I may have to go back and re-listen to book 3, as I seem to be a bit lost with the start). I am very excited to continue the Dragonfriend storyline!I also noticed that The Onyx Dragon is now available on Audio (not sure how I missed that when it was released). Is there a reason you switched narrators? I listened to the sample of the new narrator - you can't even tell when she starts a new sentence. It's like one big run-on sentence with no punctuation. I know it's a huge endeavor (and expense) but is there any chance this will be re-released with a better (preferably Ryan Prizio) narrator? I don't often have time to sit and actually read a book with my work/life schedule (and I hate having to wear reading glasses to see the words - it sucks getting old!) so audio books work best for me with my work commute, etc. It's great to be able to pop in an ear bud and listen at work or when I'm cleaning, feeding the farm, etc. But a bad narrator can totally ruin a great book . . . Just out of curiosity, what influences your choices for a narrator for your books?

Can't get the jolly reply button to work suddenly! Ok - (1) narrator - yeah. I hear you. It was a cost decision and looks like from feedback not my best. Ryan was VERY expensive for Onyx Dragon and I just can't afford that on an audiobook at the moment. I look for voices that can bring characters to life. The best I've worked with so far are Shiromi on Aranya, Erin on the Dragonfriend series and have you sampled Alexander on The Horse Dreamer? He's quite unique!

(2) Yeah my daughter has been pressing me on Horse Dreamer #2 - we're planning over this Christmas holiday and wanting to get stuck into it in the New Year. Sound good?

Zhialeiana (Zee-ya-lay-ee-ahna) - I think of the accent as being on the third syllable. Or first and third also works :-). Cultures? I don't know, its a pastiche of cross-cultural experience, imagination and bits and pieces borrowed from here and there. Its one of the elements of story that I love creating, as you may have noticed!

I agree with the comment about the narrators for Pip's books. I didn't really care for either one of them. The man paused way too often, reminding me of Captain Kirk, and the woman's voice was quite shrill. I'm not a big fan of Shiromi, though she's a huge improvement over the others. However, Erin did an excellent job with the Dragonfriend series.

And I just realized that you have all but stated that aranya, izarela, and possibly pip heal the rift. I mean there seems to be easy trade with herimor by dragon thief, based of kal familiarity with it, and the rift goes unmentioned the entire book. You also stuck in a bit in the dragonfriend saga saying that healing the rift and crossing the rim-wall were tasks for the future star dragons. Now we know that taz and Rika pioneer past the wall, so I suspect that the others between hualiama and them have to banish urzal and heal the rift. Am I close?

You are always on the mark. I think the connection between IsleSong and the dragon world will make this perfectly clear. Essentially the Rift results from toxins being cleared from Zhialieana's world but that has been exacerbated by the Sea-Witch's activities into a dangerously explosive 'imbalance'. So nothing can be healed until [stuff] is sorted out in the oceanic world. Riika's job :-) with the help of her lovely family.